Port Cities: Barcelona
Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona. Photo: Mark den Hartog
Everything we’ve heard about Barcelona we found to be true – beautiful, clean, out-going and friendly people and unfortunately pick pocketers. More on that later.
We are not the bus tour type but on our first day we decided to take the double-decker bus tour so we could get a feel for the neighborhoods and the attractions we wanted to go back to see. There is a blue & red line which you can hop-on and hop-off at any time. I found it not to be quite the value I was expecting. With the entire loop being 2-hours, it feels like it takes too much time to get back to the starting point. Know what you want to see prior to visiting Barcelona and take the Metro. The metro is extremely easy to use and will get you within steps to everything you want to see.
We stayed two blocks from the gayborhood. Through Airbnb we found Caesar who rents out his studio apartment. Caesar is very welcoming and will help you with anything you need. The apartment is on the 4th floor with no elevator so if you have trouble with stairs it might not be ideal for you but if you don’t mind a little exercise we highly recommend staying there. You will also save dollars by using Airbnb for your accomodations.
Now back to the pick pocketers. We were on the street searching for a recommended gay restaurant and a nice looking guy asked us if we needed help finding anything. He suggested a few places and joked with us a bit about the “attractions” at the gay pole dancing club. A few minutes later Dale noticed his iPhone was missing! This guy was slicker than any Las Vegas lounge magician. We’re fairly seasoned travelers and are always on our guard, so be sure you pay attention to all the anti-theft advice. Wear a money belt (we did) and next time I’m leaving my smart phone at home. The good news is with the phone insurance plan, a new one will be waiting for us when we return home.
If you plan on spending a few days in Barcelona, a nice day trip is to the gay beach resort town of Sitges. It’s a very easy 30-minute train ride and some of the ride hugs the azure Mediterranean. From the train station, it’s a 10-minute downhill walk to the beachfront. There you will find the popular gay beach and many gay restaurants, clubs, saunas and stores. If you want a drink at a gay bar anytime in the afternoon, your only choice is Parrots. You won’t miss it with the rainbow colored table umbrellas that look like Hawaiian grass skirts. When we asked if there were other places to eat or get a drink the waiter chuckled and said most won’t open until 10:00 p.m. If you can’t stay up that late, Sitges might not be the place for you. Sometimes we fit into that category but with the jet lag, we had no problem adjusting to their hours.
Now it’s on to the NCL Jade for our 7-day cruise. More to follow…
Richard, and 
markdale are discussing. 
Joe is discussing. 
markdale 4:30 pm on April 10, 2012 Permalink |
We will be in Barcelona next week for 5 days prior to our cruise. I’ll let you know what we discover. Hotels are very expensive in Barcelona so we are staying in our own studio apt that is owned by 2 gays guys. It’s right in the heart of the city. http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/135503
Richard 7:54 am on May 17, 2012 Permalink |
A couple of years ago, prior to a cruise, I stayed at the Market Hotel, in the Eixample, which cost me 80 euros/night. But this was might have been a special rate as it was gotten by the guy (TA) who put together our little gay group on a mainstream cruise.